Covid 19 coronavirus: Two ships connected to Covid docked at Port of Tauranga

Two ships that are connected to Covid-19 cases docked in Tauranga last week. Photo / File

Health authorities are investigating a suspected historical case of Covid-19 detected in a crew member that arrived at the Port of Tauranga on the weekend.

It has been revealed a ship considered the likely source of infection for a recent community case docked in Tauranga for two days last week as well.

The Sofrana Surville is the most likely source of infection for a port worker who tested positive for Covid-19 on Saturday, director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield confirmed yesterday.

The marine electronics engineer who tested positive for the virus had worked on the ship while it was in Auckland. He was wearing PPE while working onboard.

The vessel arrived in Tauranga between October 10 and 12 from Brisbane.

A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said it was business as usual for operations.

Director general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield. Photo / File

The Ministry of Health would not confirm the number of close or casual contacts to the ship before edition time last night.

There were 29 close contacts of the Covid-positive man. They will all be in isolation for 14 days, regardless of a negative test.

The Ministry of Health said health authorities were also investigating a suspected historical case of Covid-19 detected in a crew member on the IVS Merlion, which is currently docked in the Port of Tauranga.

The vessel is not suspected as the source of the positive case announced on Sunday.

The crew member has returned a weak positive Covid-19 test, with a high CT value which indicates an old infection, the ministry said in a statement.

The person had not passed on the infection to any other crew members, who had all tested negative and have been on board the vessel for three weeks.

"As a precautionary approach, the case under investigation has been isolated and has had a repeat Covid-19 test as well as a blood test."

The ministry said there was a very low risk of transmission of the virus to the community.

No crew members are allowed to leave the IVS Merlion.

A Port of Tauranga spokeswoman said in terms of the historical case, the crew member in question did not come ashore and was a low risk of infection transmission.

She said contact tracing was currently being done for the port worker who tested positive for Covid-19 last week, which also included the vessels the worker had been on.

"That worker has not been in Tauranga for quite some time."